Occult Theocracy Chapter 1 - 2

THE MYSTERIES OFF REEMASONRY

CHAPTER I

THE RELIGION OF THE SECRET

Man is a creature of mind and matter. To the realm

of mind belongs metaphysical thought which, whether

trained or untrained, is peculiar to each individual and

is subject for its development or restraint to his will.

It is the basis of religion in the generally accepted

sense of this word ; it is purely spiritual and can reach

the height of mysticism. From it issue creeds or doc-

trines and the erection of a theological system of

beliefs.

Imparted to other individuals and accepted by them, 

the metaphysical thought of a few great minds has 

become the basis of religious systems. Upon its teach- 

ing was grafted a Ritual or Law, disciplining the life, 

mystic, moral, social and even physical, of its adherents 

or believers. From the exercise of such laws, theocracy 

or the rule of priesthood was evolved. It is to be found 

in every religion regardless of the fact that in some 

instances like in the Buddhist doctrine of Gautama 

and in the teaching of Jesus Christ, nothing is further 

removed than ritualism from the metaphysical thought 

or religious conception of the founders. 

The power of theocrasy or exercise of government 

rule over the masses by a hierarchy of priests or adepts 

rested on its dual system of teaching, namely : Exote- 

rism and Esoterism, the former a code of discipline of 

the thought and mode of life of the masses, the latter 

the hierarchic school wherein were trained the chosen 

adepts destined to safeguard the rules imposed upon 

the people by the high priests. 

Upon a close study of the manifold religious systems, 

the corruption of which led to theocratic rule, namely, 

Brahminism, the Ancient Egyptian Cult, Mosaism or 

Judaism, Christianism and Mahometanism, one finds 

the accepted belief of Monotheism as the basis of 

esoteric or secret belief or doctrine. Monotheism is 

here taken in the sense of First Principle. 

Whereas the Egyptian high priesthood of Memphis 

kept this theory as the esoteric teaching of the high 

adepts, Moses, brought up as one of them, gave it as 

exoteric or popular belief to the Israelitic sect to which 

he belonged, embodying it in a deity, the terrible 

Jehovah of the Jews. 

Another side of the esoteric teaching was that of 

occultism, the development of all human psychic 

forces which, when misused, lead to the practice of 

magic. The esoteric part of all religions or hermeticism, 

the teaching and practice of occultism, led to the 

development of what might be termed the religion 

of the secret, which eventually overshadowed and 

helped to dissimulate subversive activities. 

It is with this that we are chiefly concerned and 

will endeavour, to some degree, to show its baneful 

influence on society of all creeds and nations. Let the 

reader bear in mind that it is not the object of this 

work to discuss the place occupied and the part played 

by either Metaphysics and Philosophy on the one hand, and Science and Ritualism on the other. The 

limitations of each and its encroachment upon the 

territory of the others, the ensuing conflicts, are matter 

for the history of fanaticism throughout the ages. 

Our aim is to follow the outgrowth of Esoterism and 

a few of its multiple ramifications in the realm of 

perversion and subversion. 

CHAPTER II 

THE MEANING OF OCCULTISM 

A summary and some explanation of the principal 

forms of occultism must precede the chapters which 

deal with the historical side of this subject, and the 

objections, those of the credulous as well as those of 

the sceptics, must be foreseen and forestalled. Many 

persons are tempted to deny, arbitrarily and without 

examination, statements on matters of which they 

have no previous knowledge, but even the possible 

criticism of such as these must have received due con- 

sideration. 

In this age of wireless and aeroplanes, one of the 

fads of the modern highbrow is to scoff at such things 

as sorcerers, magic and evocations as old wives' tales. 

Tales of ancient history ! There are people who refuse 

to believe in the existence of the supernatural, perhaps 

we should say supernormal, even when confronted with 

the evidence. Such are the sceptics who deny every- 

thing. Hidebound in their prejudice, they ignore the 

fact that magic, White or Black, has now as many 

adepts as ever, nor can they distinguish between the 

different schools of spiritism. 

First, there are the charlatans whose tricks in the 

line of Spiritism are generally sooner or later unmasked. 

Second, there are the Occultists who operate in 

secrecy and hide their meetings from all but initiates 

with the greatest care. 

Many persons are duped by charlatans, so the scep- 

tics persuade themselves of the absolute non-existence 

of all diabolical practices in modern times. They are 

wrong. For Occultism flourishes now in Europe, Asia, 

and America. The Black Mass is said today in Paris 

and London, and Satanism has its faithful followers. 

On this subject one of the most eminent writers was 

Carl Hackse, who, under the pseudonym of Dr. Bataille, 

made an extensive study of Occultism and gave his 

extremely exaggerated views of it in the book Le 

Diablc an XIX s Siccle. 

The following pages of this chapter are mostly either 

quotations or abridgements from that work : 

" According to the teaching of the Christian chur- 

ches, God allows demons certain limited powers, but 

they are not permitted to open the gates of hell and 

release a spirit at the request of one who evokes the 

dead. The dead, even damned, will not show themselves 

if evoked, nor would evocations be answered by those 

who had succeeded in attaining the kingdom of heaven, 

but devils can and do, says the Church, substitute 

themselves for the deceased. They will impersonate a 

dead person whose appearance is demanded by invo- 

cations. 

" It is also admitted that the fallen angels or spirits 

will often manifest to people without being called, The 

theological hagiographa cite many cases of diabolical 

apparitions to saints, apparitions which these saints 

have been able to repel and conquer... but what 

sceptics and agnostic Christians alike ignore is that 

besides the drawing room mediums, mediums for 

diversion, there are occultists whose vile practices are 

veiled in the profoundest mystery. These men, whose 

moral sense is absolutely perverted, believe in Lucifer, 

but they believe him to be the equal of God and worship 

him secretly. " ' 

Modern Occultism is on the one hand practical Cabala 

and on the other, Indian Yogism, both of which have 

always had their adepts more or less openly. 

The Cabala is Occult Science itself. It is the secret 

theology of the initiates, theology essentially Satanic. 

In a word the counter-theology. Our God, the God 

of the Christians, is the power of evil in the eyes of 

the Cabalists ; and for them the power of good, the real 

God, is Lucifer. 

" The Cabala teaches magic or the art of intercourse 

with spirits and supernatural beings. 

" One cannot be a convinced Cabalist without soon 

becoming a magician and devoting oneself to the prac- 

tices of occultism. 

" Not that our Cabalists or contemporary magicians 

practise all the different branches of occultism. Some 

of these have been abandoned and others are only 

used by charlatans for the exploitation of superstitious 

persons, but a great many, precisely the most criminal 

and perverse, are observed in the hidden dens of our 

modern Luciferians. " 2 

Magic has two divisions : 

The first is divining magic, subdivided into several 

branches of which the principal are : 

Astrology Aeromancy 

Palmistry Hydromancy 

Anthropomancy Pyromancy 

Oneirocritics Cartomancy 

1. Bataille, Le Diable au XIX e Steele, vol. I, p. 28. 

2. Ibid., p. 29. 

The second is operative magic, also subdivided into 

several branches of which the principal are : 

Alchemy Necromancy 

Mesmerism Theurgy 

Various miraculous feats 

There are moreover some superstitious practices not 

specially classed. 

Bataille thus defines some of the foregoing : 

Astrology. — Divining the future by the stars. The 

casting of horoscopes is its most prevalent practice. 

Palmistry. — Divining the future by the hand. 

Anthropomancy. — This is one of the practices sup- 

posed at present to have fallen into disuse. It is a hor- 

rible, savage abomination and consists in disem- 

bowelling a human being for the purpose of divining 

the future by inspection of the entrails. 

Mediaeval history accuses Gilles de Retz of perpe- 

trating this crime on children, whom he lured to his 

castle for the purpose. Tacitus says that the Druids, 

in ancient Britain, used to consult their Gods by looking 

into the entrails of their captives. 

Oneirocritics. — Divining the future through inter- 

pretation of dreams. 

Aeromancy. — Divination by the study of aerial 

phenomena. 

Hydromancy. — Divination by the study of liquids 

or aquatic phenomena. 

Pyromancy. — Divination by fire. 

Cartomancy. — Divination by cards. 

There is no need to expatiate further on the more 

or less grotesque means employed by those who follow 

these false sciences. One must be somewhat erratic 

to imagine that the future can be foretold by coffee 

grounds, by the antics of flames in a grate, by the order in which shuffled cards will be drawn, or by the odd 

shapes assumed by wind-driven clouds ! When events 

corroborate predictions made under these conditions, 

it can be attributed to the use of the power of clair- 

voyance, but these fortune tellers, some of whom have 

a thorough knowledge of the rules governing the prac- 

tices of these absurdities, are the first to distrust their 

art. 

Such expedients, disdained by the real occultists, 

are too unimportant to be worthy of note. It is quite 

another matter to expose the Satanists, ignored by the 

public, whose sects, bearing different names in different 

countries, constitute, in reality, only one, single, secret 

religion whose fanatics, imbued with the spirit of evil, 

will sacrifice themselves blindly to their cause. 

Throughout the universe, all Luciferian and Satanic 

rites bear a basic similarity. 

Dealing principally with the practices of contem- 

porary operative magic, it is Bataille's opinion that 

as regards the mysterious art of Alchemy, its theory 

is called Hermetic Science and has a double objective, 

namely, the discovery of the philosopher's stone, a 

substance capable of transmuting base metals into gold 

and drinkable gold, or the Elixir of long life which 

is a magic potion endowed with the properties neces- 

sary to prolong human life indefinitely or, at least, 

to maintain in old age the faculties of youth. Alchemy 

as a science seems now obsolete. 

The Alchemists knew the existence of microbes and 

toxins long before the medical discoveries of the pre- 

sent age. The laboratories of Satanic bacteriology have 

been working, for a long time, on cultures of bacilli 

or solutions of their toxic properties which, even when 

administered in infinitesimal doses, mixed with food 

or drink, disseminate disease and death where it is 

judged necessary by the " Masters " that life is to be 

destroyed. In these cases deaths occur from apparently 

natural causes! 

He further says that Magnetic Mesmerism is the occult 

medicine of the Cabalists. One must naturally not 

confuse the scientists who are at present making re- 

searches in hypnotism and suggestion, in the interest of 

science, with the emulators of Cagliostro whose aim is 

to procure diversions, often wicked and immoral. 

Scientific magnetism is still an obscure question being 

studied by theologians, physiologists and crimin- 

ologists, whereas that of the adepts of magic has nothing 

to do with this ; it is a branch of the subterranean work 

that is nearing its goal today. 

Necromancy is partly divining magic and partly 

operative magic. This practice consists in the evoca- 

tion of the spirits of the dead. Spiritism and rapping 

of tables are necromancy, but if all spiritists are not 

necessarily Cabalists, all Cabalists are practicing necro- 

mancy. People are far from suspecting the progress 

made by necromancy along these lines. Freemasonry 

is yearly more and more invaded by the spiritist element 

to the extent that, in 1889, an international convention 

of spiritist Freemasons attended by about 500 delegates 

was held at the Hotel of the Grand Orient of France, 

rue Cadet, Paris. 

This was only a beginning ! 

Eliphas Levi, a renowned occultist of the 19th 

century, writing in Histoire de la Magie, in the follow- 

ing words, sounds a warning to those who, recklessly, 

would venture into the domain of the occult. 

" The experiences of theurgy and necromancy are 

3. Bataille, he Dtable an XIX< Siick, p. 35. 

4. P. 143. 

always disastrous to those who indulge in them. When 

one has once stood on the threshold of the other world 

one must die and almost invariably under terrible 

conditions. First giddiness, then catalepsy followed 

by madness. It is true that the atmosphere is disturbed, 

the woodwork cracks and doors tremble and groan 

in the presence of certain persons, after a series of 

intoxicating acts. Weird sounds, sometimes bloody 

signs, will appear spontaneously on paper or linen. 

They are always the same and are classed by magicians 

as Diabolical writings. The very sight of them induces 

a state of convulsion or ecstacy in the mediums who 

believe themselves to be seeing spirits. Thus Satan, the 

Spirit of Evil, is transfigured for them into an angel 

of light but, before they will manifest, these so-called 

spirits require sympathetic excitement produced by 

sexual intercourse on the part of their devotees. Hands 

must be placed in hands, feet on feet, they must breathe 

in each other's faces, these acts often being followed 

by others of an obscene character. The initiates, revel- 

ling in these forms of excesses believe themselves to 

be the elect of God and the arbiters of destiny. They 

are the successors of the fakirs of India. No warning 

will save them. 

" To cure such illnesses, the priests of Greece used 

to terrify their patients by concentration and exag- 

geration of the evil in one great paroxysm. They made 

the adept sleep in the cave of Trophonius. After some 

preliminary preparations, he descended to a subter- 

ranean cavern in which he was left without light soon 

to be prostrated by intoxicating gases. Then the visio- 

nary, still in the throes of ghastly dreams caused by 

incipient asphyxia, was rescued, being carried off 

prophesying on his tripod. These tests gave their 

nervous systems such a shock that the patients never dared mention evocations of phantoms again. 

" Theurgy is the highest degree of occultism. Necro- 

mancy is limited to the summoning of dead souls, but 

the Theurgists of the nineteenth century evoke entities 

qualified by them as genii, angels of light, exalted spi- 

rits, spirits of fire etc. In their meetings, scattered 

throughout the world, they worship Lucifer. The three 

mysterious letters J... B... M..., that the common 

initiates see in the Masonic Temples, are reproduced 

in the meeting rooms of the Luciferians, but they no 

longer mean Jakin, Bohaz, Mahabone, as in the Lodges, 

nor Jacques Bourguignon Molay, as with the Knights 

Kadosch ; in Theurgy these three letters mean ; Jesus 

Bethlemitus Maledictus. Theurgy is therefore pure 

Satanism. " 5 

" Moreover it is important to note that the Cabalists, 

admitted to the mysteries of Theurgy, never mention 

the word Satan. They look upon certain dissident 

adepts who invoke the devil under the name of Satan 

as heretics, whose system they call Goety or Black 

Magic. They call their own practices Theurgy or White 

Magic. " 6 

Between these two types of Devil worshippers, the 

Luciferian occultists and the Satanists, there is a 

difference which must not be overlooked. 

Luciferians never call their infernal master " Spirit of 

Evil" or " Father and Creator of Crime ". Albert Pike even 

forbade the use of the word Satan under any circumstances. 

There is indeed a distinction between the Satanists 

and Luciferians. The Satanists, described by Mr. Huys- 

mans in his book, La Bas, are chiefly persons mentally 

deranged by the use and abuse of drugs who, while 

5. Bataille, op. cit., p. 35. 

6. Ibid., p. 36. 

suffering from a peculiar form of hysteria, accuse the 

God of the Christians of having betrayed the cause of 

humanity. They are persons who recognize that their 

God Satan occupies a position in the supernatural 

sphere, inferior to that of the Christian deity. On the 

other hand the Luciferians or the initiates of kindred 

rites, while still labouring under a strange delusion, 

act deliberately and glorify Lucifer as the principle of 

good. To them he is the equal of the God of the Chris- 

tians whom they describe as the principle of evil. 

It is necessary to recognize the distinction which 

exists between Luciferians and Satanists, for their two 

cults bear each other no resemblance, although Lucifer- 

Satan manifests indiscriminately to his faithful follow- 

ers of both denominations. One must not, however, 

imagine that the pride and satisfaction he derives from 

this adulation acts as an inducement to making him 

appear whenever he is called ! Occultists of all schools 

agree that nothing is more capricious than the conduct 

of spirits when evoked ! 

It is well moreover to remember that Luciferian 

occultism is no novelty, nor must one make the mistake 

of confusing it with ordinary Freemasonry, the Lodges 

of which are only private clubs. 7 

Many authors have published books on Freemasonry, 

some printing the rituals, some their personal obser- 

vations on certain facts, but few of these authors, having 

themselves passed into occult masonry, the real masonry 

of the Cabalistic degrees which is in touch with all 

secret societies, Masonic as well as non-Masonic, have 

been able to state that Luciferian Occultism controls 

Freemasonry. 

Though this is indeed the case, neither the President 

7. Bataille, op. cit., p.- 36. 

of the Council of the Order of the Grand Orient of 

France, the supreme chief of French Freemasonry, nor 

the president of the Supreme Council of Scottish Rites 

will be received at the meeting of a simple Luciferian 

ceremony just on account of his title and dignity unless, 

at the same time, he possesses a diploma of Cabalistic 

grade which requires another initiation. On the other 

hand, the first Oddfellow from Canada, a member of 

the Chinese San-ho-hui of China, a Luciferian Fakir 

from India, all these can visit at their pleasure all 

lodges and inner shrines of ordinary Freemasonry in 

all countries because, in each one of the Satanic sects, 

the directing authority is exercised by heads who belong 

to the most exalted masonic degrees of the different 

rites, degrees which are for them of secondary impor- 

tance. These chiefs, at the request of their subordinates 

of the Luciferian societies, deliver to them freely the 

diplomas necessary to obtain admittance everywhere, 

as well as the sacred words and yearly and half yearly 

pass-words of all the masonic rites of the globe. 8 

Luciferian Occultism, as has been said before, is 

therefore not a novelty, but it bore a different name in 

the early days of Christianity. It was called Gnosti- 

cism and its founder was Simon the Magician. 

The Gnostics were not ordinary heretics but con- 

stituted an anti-christian sect. To deceive the multitude, 

they affected disagreement with certain doctrines of 

the Apostles, and the chiefs selected from among the 

initiates those destined to receive, in secret council, 

the Satanic revelation. Gnosticism is marked with the 

seal of Lucifer. It is contemporary with the Apostle 

Peter and has continued, without interruption, down 

to the present day, periodically changing its mask. 

8. Bataille, op. cit., p. 36. 

The seven founders of Freemasonry were all Gnos- 

tics, Magi of the English Rose Croix, whose names 

were : Theophile Desaguliers, named Chaplain of the 

Prince of Wales by George II, Anderson, the clergy- 

man, an Oxford graduate and preacher to the King 

of England, George Payne, James King, Calvert, 

Lumden-Madden, and Elliott. 

Gnosticism, as the Mother of Freemasonry, has 

imposed its mark in the very centre of the chief symbol 

of this association. The most conspicuous emblem which 

one notices on entering a masonic temple, the one which 

figures on the seals, on the rituals, everywhere in fact, 

appears in the middle of the interlaced square and 

compass, it is the five pointed star framing the letter G. 

Different explanations of this letter G are given to 

the initiates. In the lower grades, one is taught that it 

signifies Geometry. To the brothers frequenting the 

lodges admitting women as members, it is revealed 

that the mystic letter means Generation, but the 

revelation is attended with great secrecy. Finally, t6 

those found worthy to penetrate into the sanctuary 

of Knights Kadosch, the enigmatic letter becomes the 

initial of the doctrine of the perfect initiates which 

is Gnosticism. This explanation is no longer an imag- 

inary fabrication. It is Gnosticism which is the real 

meaning of the G in the flamboyant star, for, after 

the grade of Kadosch (a Hebrew word meaning conse- 

crated) the Freemasons dedicate themselves to the 

glorification of Gnosticism (or anti-christianity) which is 

defined by Albert Pike as " the soul and marrow of 

Freemasonry. " 9 

9. " The G which the Freemasons place in the middle 

of the flamboyant star signifies Gnosticism and Generation, 

the most sacred words of the ancient Cabala. " See Eliphas 

Levi, Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, vol. II, p. 97. 

Let us add that the ancient mysteries of Gnosticism 

have been known and published in the past. There is 

no difference between the Gnosticism of the early ages 

of Christianity and modern occultism. 

The fundamental principle of Gnosticism was the 

double divinity (dual principle) and this is exactly the 

theological theory of modern occultism. The Gnostics 

claimed that the good God was Lucifer and that Christ 

was the devil, that what the Christians call vice was for 

them virtue, and to the Christian dogma they opposed 

Gnosticism, a word meaning human knowledge. 

Early Gnosticism had its doctors ; the Basilideans, 

Ophites and Valentinians. Basilide of Alexandria, one 

of them, lived at the end of the first century. He taught 

metempsychosis and the principles underlying present- 

day Theosophy. His system resembles that of the 

spiritists of the nineteenth century who have invented 

nothing, for they copy Gnosticism even in its theory 

of the transmigration of souls. Basilide affirmed that 

he was the reincarnation of Plato. Whoever has pene- 

trated into assemblies of modern theurgists can attest 

that one of its current theories is that of reincarnation. 

After Basilide came Montanus who died in 212. 

Montanus was a grand master of the art of divination. 

The Bite of Mizraim (a Freemasonry said to be Egyptian) 

copies slavishly, in its Cabalistic grades, all the phan- 

tasmagoria of Montanus. This Gnostic doctor plunged 

himself into ecstasies and, according to history, he had 

two women, Maximilla and Priscilla, trained to act as 

his accomplices. The Gnostics came in crowds to admire 

their contortions worthy of epileptics. They had the 

sacred illness, and were considered two saints of 

10. In reference to the Pagans " who (as we read in divers 

authors) consecrated most kinds of Distempers of the Body, 

and Affections of the Mind; erected Temples and Altars to Satan. In the assemblies of the sect, when they went into 

frenzies and prophesied, their oracular sayings were 

listened to with veneration by the adepts. 

Were they acting a part, were they just mediums 

or somnambulists, or were they what the Roman 

Catholics call " possessed " ? 

This is a hard question to answer. 

A modern example of the influence exercised by 

occult organizations on the destinies of mankind is 

to be found in the history of The Holy Alliance, founded 

in 1815 by Alexander I, Emperor of Russia. This was 

originally a union of monarchs pledged to support the 

Christian Church and to stem the rising tide of radi- 

calism, revolution and subversion. 

In L'Histoire de la Magie (p. 467), Eliphas Levi 

states that the spiritist sect of " The Rescuers of 

Louis XVI ", wishing to penetrate this organization 

to use it for their own purposes, succeeded in insinua- 

ting one of their illumines into the good graces of the 

Czar. This was Madame Bouche, known to the adepts 

as Sister Salome. After eighteen months spent at the 

Russian Court, during which she had many secret 

interviews with the Emperor, she was supplanted by 

another medium-somnambulist of the sect, the famous 

Madame de Krudner who acquired so great an influence 

Fevers. Paleness. Madness, and Death ; to Laughter, Lust, 

Contumely, Impudence, and Calumny. Every strange Disorder, 

as well as Epilepsy, is the Sacred Disease. Sua cuique Deus sit 

dira Cupido (Each bold Fancy grows into a God). 

" But it must be remembered this Distemper was called also 

Morbus Comitialis ; because if any one fell into it, during the 

Assembly, it was a fatal Omen, and they immediately broke 

up ". 

Bishop Lavington, The Enthusiasm of Methodists and Papists 

compared, p. 123. 

over the Czar that his ministers became alarmed at the 

situation thus created. 

Levi thus describes the fall of the favorite ; 

" One day, as the emperor was leaving her, she barred 

his passage crying ' God reveals to me that your life is in 

great danger. An assassin is in the palace. ' The Emperor, 

alarmed, caused the palace to be searched and a man, armed 

with a dagger, was found. He confessed, when questioned, 

that he had been introduced into the palace by Madame de 

Krudner herself. ' 

One wonders if the whole affair was not simply the 

result of a clever intrigue calculated to get rid of the 

prophetess. As such it was singularly successful for 

Madame de Krudner was summarily banished from the 

Russian Court. 

In De la Magonnerie Occulte (pp. 87-88), J. M. Ragon 

tells us that " science counts four kinds of Somnam- 

bulism : The natural, the symptomatic, the magnetic 

and the ecstatic. 

" Natural and symptomatic somnambulism are two 

essentially different states, one occurring only at night, 

the other by day as well as by night. The conduct of 

the subject is different under the two conditions. 

" Magnetic and ecstatic somnambulism differ from 

one another insomuch as the one is commanded (willed) 

and the other is not. The first is artificial, the other 

natural. In the first, the subject is dependent; in the 

second, he acts independently. That is why induced 

somnambulism cures the natural when substituted for 

it. 

" A lucid somnambulist bears no more resemblance 

to a man asleep than he does to an active man awake ". 

When the Gnostics practised magic, they evoked 

the spirits of the dead exactly as do the occultists of today. Dawning Christianity was prolific in miracles so, in order to fight it, the disciples of Gnosticism had recourse to diabolical marvels. In this respect, are not  contemporaneous spiritists, with their rapping tables  and apparitions, Gnostics under another name ? 

Secret Gnostic meetings lead to depravity, as the 

adepts indulge in every kind of turpitude and obsce- 

nity, often under the influence of drugs such as Indian 

Hemp (Cannabis indica) or Opium, the medicinal pro- 

perties of which, when administered under certain 

conditions, are provocative of mediumistic phenomena. 

Thus debauched, their moral sense weakened, ini- 

tiates are ready to work. They work, they fall, and, as 

they fall the Occult power grasps its prey. Their life, 

henceforth, is subject to the will of the Hidden Masters 

who, according to their secret designs, will lead their 

slaves to power, or a semblance of power, or else to 

their downfall. To use the words of " Inquire Within " 

in Light-bearers of Darkness (p. 118) ... " These masters 

— doubtless identical with the terrible power behind 

the horrors of Russia's sufferings and World Revolution 

— have in reality no interest in soul or astral develop- 

ment, except as a means of forming passive illuminised 

tools, completely controlled in mind and actions. " n 

" Inquire Within " further suggests that there is " a 

group of flesh-and-blood men, who can form etheric 

links, from any distance, with the leaders of these 

societies and who secretly work by means of that 

light which can * slay or make alive ', intoxicating, 

blinding, and, if need be, destroying unwary men and 

women, using them as instruments or ' Light-bearers ' 

to bring to pass this mad and evil scheme of World 

11. This refers to Gnostic Secret Societies described in this 

book. 

Dominion by the God-People — the Cabalistic Jew. " 12 

A further explanation of the phenomenon of induced 

mediumship is given us by the same author who quotes 

the following lines from Eliphas Levi's History of Magic: 

" This may take place when, through a series of almost 

impossible exercises... our nervous system, having been habit- 

uated to all tensions and fatigues, has become a kind of 

living galvanic pile, capable of condensing and projecting 

powerfully that Light (astral) which intoxicates and des- 

troys. 

" Inquire Within " comments further : 

" It attempts to show that it leads to mastership and self 

control, but on careful consideration it proves to be merely 

conscious mediumship inspired by crafty and wilful deception, 

giving the adept a false confidence, inducing him to let go 

his physical senses and work upon the astral, where, enclosed 

by formulae given by these masters themselves, he is 

completely at their mercy. " 

A recent practical illustration of these methods is 

the teaching contained in a book Asia Mysteriosa by 

Zam Bhotiva, (published by Dorbon Aine) which sug- 

gests ways and means of communication with the 

" Hidden Masters ". 

It will be recognised by anyone having taken an 

interest in the progress of science along certain lines 

that there is nothing impossible or even improbable 

in the suggestion that telepathy may be exploited by 

organisations for their own particular ends. 

Forty years ago William Gay Hudson wrote on tele- 

pathy as follows : 

If the power exists in man to convey a telepathic 

message to his fellow-man, it presupposes the existence of 

12. " Inquire Within " op. cit., pp. 116-117. 

the power in the percipient to repeat the message to a third 

person, and so on indefinitely, until some one receives it 

who has the power to elevate the information above the 

threshold of his consciousness, and thus convey it to the 

objective intelligence of the world. Nor is the element of 

time necessarily an adverse factor in the case ; for there is 

no reason to suppose that such messages may not be trans- 

mitted from one to another for generations. Thus, the par- 

ticulars of a tragedy might be revealed many years after 

the event, and in such a way as to render it difficult, if not 

impossible, to trace the line through which the intelligence 

was transmitted. For the spiritist the easy and ever-ready 

explanation of such a phenomenon is to ascribe it to the 

intervention of spirits of the dead. But to those who have 

kept pace with the developments of modern scientific inves- 

tigation, and who are able to draw the legitimate and neces- 

sary conclusions from the facts discovered, the explanation 

is obvious, without the necessity of entering the domain 

of the supernatural. " B 

On the subject of Hypnotism and Crime, Hudson, 

writing further, reaches however a fatally false conclu- 

sion which for many years remained unchallenged. 

He states (p. 140) " It is true that, on ordinary questions, 

the truth is always uppermost in the subjective mind. 

A hypnotic subject will often say, during the hypnotic 

sleep, that which he would not say in his waking 

moments. Nevertheless, he never betrays a vital secret... 

That this is true is presumptively proved by the fact 

that in all the years during which the science of hypno- 

tism has been practised, no one has ever been known 

to betray the secrets of any society or order. The 

attempt has often been made, but it has never suc- 

ceeded. " 

Hudson attributes this reticence to auto-suggestion 

13. Hudson, The Law of Psychic Phenomena, p. 236. 

opposing the suggestion of another. This however is 

not the case, for, where a member of a secret society 

or order is concerned, that member was already hypno- 

tized during initiation and it is not his will that guards 

the secret," it is the will of another, the will of the Lodge. 

How many people know that hypnotism is about all 

there is to initiation ? Hypnotism and fear. The rest is 

camouflage. 

In the event of this statement being doubted, we quote 

herewith from Freemasonry Universal an article which 

needs no further comment: 14 

" The Stewards prepare the candidate ; the Tyler first, 

and afterwards in turn the I. G., Deacons and Junior Wardens 

should inspect the candidate to see that everything is strictly 

correct. 

" The preparation symbolises poverty, blindness (or 

ignorance) and poverty of spirit, — but it may also signify 

a purification, i.e., that the riches and pleasures which bind 

one to the material side of life are discarded and the spirit 

blinded to their attractions. The baring of the right arm, left 

breast, left knee and right heel being slipshod, are apparently 

a reference to the awakening of occult centres in one's being 

which may only become active when purification of the whole 

nature has begun. 

" The very specific character of the preparation points 

to real knowledge of the occult physiology of the process 

of initiation on the part of those who originated the method 

which has been so faithfully preserved. Certain Forces are 

sent through the candidate's body during the ceremony, 

especially at the moment when he is created, received and 

constituted an Entered Apprentice Freemason. Certain 

parts of the Lodge have been very heavily charged with 

magnetic force especially in order that the Candidate may 

absorb as much as possible of this force. The first object of 

14. Freemasonry Universal vol. V, Part 2, Autumn Equinox, 

1929, p. 58. 

this curious method of preparation is to expose to this influence 

those various parts of the body which are especially used in 

the ceremony. In ancient Egypt, there was another reason 

for these preparations, for a weak current of physical electri- 

city was sent through the candidate by means of a rod or 

sword with which he was touched at certain points. It is 

partly on this account that at this first initiation the candi- 

date is deprived of all metals since they may very easily inter- 

fere with the flow of the currents. " 

All kinds of nice inspiring symbolical interpretations 

of the ritual are generally given for the benefit of 

people who seem to want them, but it is here evident 

that the candidate, unknown to himself or herself, has 

acted throughout the ceremony of initiation under 

the stress of hypnotism. No longer a free agent, the 

initiate takes the oath under hypnotic force which, 

has also been used to instil into him the feeling of fear. 

Fear guards the secret of initiation, fear born under 

the power of hypnotism to serve henceforth as the 

controlling agent of the initiators over the initiated. 

The Right Worshipful Master must be a genuine 

occultist, as it is up to him to charge (hypnotise) the 

candidate, for to give this in the words of Freemasonry 

Universal : " The R. W. M. gives the light, the pure 

white light of truth and illumination. " 15 

Illumination, alias Kundalini, alias Serpent power, 

alias Electro-magnetic force, alias the Sex force, etc. ! 

Even in our western world any one wishing to study 

Hatha Yoga can learn to neutralize the action of gra- 

vity and go some yards up in the air. This stunt, and 

the assumption of any size at will, are tricks for which 

training is essential, and if one works at it hard enough, 

one will eventually be able to mesmerise people for 

15. Ibid., vol. V, Part 3, Winter Solstice, p. 108. 

one's own purposes, business, political or other, thus 

following the lure of the occult to a sinister end i.e. 

Black Magic. 16 

We would here observe that the miracles performed 

by Jesus Christ bore a distinctive feature, often over- 

looked, namely, that in every case altruism was the source 

of their inspiration. Thus they were a symbol of charity. 

This gives us the esoteric explanation of His silence 

when taunted on the cross. " He saved others, himself 

he cannot save. " Sooner than use this power for per- 

sonal advantage He chose death ! 

Gnostic miracles, such as that of being buried alive 

for a period of time which constitutes the Hindu reli- 

gious rites of Samadhi have no ulterior charitable pur- 

pose. They are chiefly performed for the object of crea- 

ting wonderment, curiosity or faith in magic, and as 

such, failing the altruistic motive, are classifiable under 

the general term of Black Magic. 

As a stimulus to popular faith, they are, however, 

sanctioned by most Pagan religions, though where 

such a custom prevails, the magical performers them- 

selves are not privileged to withhold their gains for 

themselves, as these are claimed by the Temple. 

Having dealt with the preliminaries of the subject, 

we will now proceed along the thorny paths of history 

— not the history of wars, battles, heroes, but that of 

the agents of their being ! 

16. In Hinduism it is known as Kala Yoga.